YUMA PROJECT, COLORADO RIVER LEVEE SYSTEM

[Extract from] An act authorizing the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes. (Act January 21, 1927, ch. 47, 44 Stat. 1010)

[Colorado River front work-Annual appropriation authorized.]—That there is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1928, and annually thereafter, the sum of $100,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be spent by the Reclamation Bureau under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to defray the cost of operating and maintaining the Colorado River front work and levee system adjacent to the Yuma Federal irrigation project in Arizona and California.

Section 16 (c), act approved March 3, 1925 (Forty-third Statutes at Large, page 1198), is hereby repealed. (44 Stat. 1021.)

HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AUTHORIZED TO DISCONTINUE PRINTING ANNUAL REPORTS

(Extract from] An act making appropriations for the Legislative Branch of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1928, and for other purposes. (Act February 23, 1927, ch. 168, 44 Stat. 1146)

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OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS

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[Printing of annual report may be discontinued-Original to be kept on file for public inspection.]-In order to keep the expenditures for printing and binding for the fiscal year 1928 within or under the appropriations for such fiscal year, the heads of the various executive departments and independent establishments are authorized to discontinue the printing of annual or special reports under their respective jurisdictions: Provided, That where the printing of such reports is discontinued, the original copy thereof shall be kept on file in the offices of the heads of the respective departments or independent establishments for public inspection. (44 Stat. 1161.)

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NOTE

With respect to size of annual reports, the act of March 3, 1925 (43 Stat. 1143), provides that the annual reports of the Department of the Interior and of all its bureaus and establishments, including the Bureau of Reclamation, shall not exceed a total of 1,250 pages. Similar provisions were contained in acts of May 24, 1922 (42 Stat. 554); January 24. 1923 (42 Stat. 1176); and June 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 392). The provision is codified as section 495, title 43, United States Code.

COMPENSATION TO CITIZENS NEAR HATCH, N. MEX., FOR FLOOD DAMAGES

An act for the payment of damages to certain citizens of New Mexico caused by reason of artificial obstructions to the flow of the Rio Grande by an agency of the United States. (Act February 25, 1927, ch. 213, 44 Stat. pt. 3, 1792)

[Sec. 1. Survey for determination of property loss-Payment.]-That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed (1) to cause a survey to be made in such manner and under such regulations as he deems necessary for the purposes of this act to determine the property loss by flood by reason of the overflow of the Rio Grande River on August 17, 1921, sustained by Lucas Trujillo, Juan Bians, Mariano P. Padillo, Bruno Perea, Juan Jose Trujillo, Miguel Trujillo, Francisco Saiz, Antonio Provencio, B. R. Carreros, Santiago Serna, Roman M. Herrera, and other property owners, who are citizens of the United States residing at or in the vicinity of Hatch and Santa Teresa, New Mexico; and (2) to pay such losses in full if the amount appropriated in section 2 of this act is sufficient or, if such amount is insufficient, to pay to each person such percentage of the amount of his property loss as the amount appropriated bears to the amount determined by the Secretary as the property loss sustained.

Sec. 2. [$75,000 authorized.]-There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the reclamation fund of the Treasury the sum of $75,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for the purposes of this act..

NOTE

Cross references. See act dated December 22, 1927 (45 Stat. 19), and act dated May 29, 1928 (45 Stat. 903), making appropriations in pursuance of the above authorization.

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COMPACTS BETWEEN STATES OF SOUTH DAKOTA AND WYOMING

An act granting the consent of Congress to compacts or agreements between the States of South Dakota and Wyoming with respect to the division and apportionment of the waters of the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Rivers and other streams in which such States are jointly interested. (Act February 26, 1927, ch. 216, 44 Stat. 1247)

[Sec. 1. Equitable division of water supply of Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Rivers and other streams.]-That the consent of Congress is hereby given to the States of South Dakota and Wyoming to negotiate and enter into compacts or agreements providing for an equitable division and apportionment between such States of the water supply of the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Rivers and of the streams tributary thereto and of other streams in which such States are jointly interested.

Sec. 2. [Representative of Interior Department to participate in negotiations-Appropriation.]-Such consent is given upon condition that a representative of the United States from the Department of the Interior, to be appointed by the President, shall participate in the negotiations and shall make report to Congress of the proceedings and of any compact or agreement entered into: Provided, That there is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of the reclamation fund $1,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to pay the expenses of such Federal participation.

Sec. 3. [Approval by legislature of States and by Congress.]-No such compact or agreement shall be binding or obligatory upon either of such States unless and until it has been approved by the legislature of each of such States and by the Congress of the United States. Sec. 4. [Right to amend, etc., reserved.]-The right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is herewith expressly reserved.

INVESTIGATIONS ON THE RIO GRANDE AND LOWER COLORADO

RIVER

Joint resolution amending the act of May 13, 1924, entitled "An act providing a study regarding the equitable use of the waters of the Rio Grande," and so forth. (H. J. Res. 345, Pub. Res. No. 62, March 3, 1927, ch. 381, 44 Stat. 1403)

[Sec. 1. Three commissioners to be appointed for study of Rio Grande and lower Colorado River-Treaty with Mexico.]-That the act of May 13, 1924, entitled "An act providing for a study regarding the equitable use of the waters of the Rio Grande below Fort Quitman, Texas, in cooperation with the United States of Mexico," is hereby amended to read as follows:

"That the President is hereby authorized to designate three special commissioners to cooperate with representatives of the Government of Mexico in a study regarding the equitable use of the waters of the lower Rio Grande and of the lower Colorado Rivers, for the purpose of securing information on which to base a treaty with the Government of Mexico relative to the use of the waters of these rivers. One of the commissioners so appointed shall be an engineer experienced in such work. Upon completion of such study the results shall be reported to Congress. The commission may also, with the concurrence of Mexico, make a study of the Tia Juana River, with the view of having a treaty governing the use of its water.

"Sec. 2. [$50,000 authorized to be appropriated.]-There is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated such amounts not to exceed $50,000 as may be necessary for carrying out the provisions hereof."

NOTE

International Water Commission.-Under date of March 22, 1927, in decision A-17674, the Comptroller General ruled that the funds made available by the deficiency act of December 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 692), for the original commission and extended by subsequent acts to June 30, 1927, are available for the purposes contemplated by the joint resolution of March 3, 1927, until the availability of that appropriation expires on June 30, 1927; but that unexpended funds could not be made available for the fiscal year 1928 in the absence of express legislation by Congress to that effect. The Comptroller General held as follows: "The fact that the last Congress adjourned without making an appropriation for this work for the fiscal year 1928 can not operate to extend the availability of the appropriation made for said work for the fiscal year 1927. Accordingly, it must be held that said appropriation will not be available under existing law for the payment of the commissioners' salaries for any period after June 30, 1927, or of any other obligations incurred after said date."

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